The Skeptics Guide #924 - Mar 25 2023 (Ad Free)
Added 2023-03-25 15:40:30 +0000 UTCWhat's the Word: Pleonasm; Rolls-Royce Nuclear Engine, Tik Tok and Misinformation, 3D Printed Rocket, Beethoven's Hair, Uranus Moons and Subsurface Oceans; Follow up: Oumuamua Comet Hypothesis; Who's That Noisy; Science or Fiction
Comments
As the manufacturer, we can only supply what the government asks us to supply. We are not allowed to redesign the part. If the government want to spend less on these parts, they would need to redesign it, (they won't) or they need to provide the tooling from Lockheed (they can't.)
Daniel Friedrichs
2023-03-31 14:13:37 +0000 UTCThe tooling to lay up all that fiberglass is very expensive. And because it only can be used on the C5 Galaxy, the quantities produced are relatively low.
Daniel Friedrichs
2023-03-31 14:09:04 +0000 UTCThe reason this toilet seat costs so much is because it's probably not what you're imagining it is. It's really a huge fiberglass panel for the lavatory in the C5 galaxy. The panel starts at the floor, extends up to the toilet, then bends back to the wall and forms to cover the plumbing, then bends again to extend up to the ceiling.
Daniel Friedrichs
2023-03-31 14:07:33 +0000 UTCParts like these are open bid orders. If there was so much profit to be made, another manufacturer you just bid less and still make a huge profit.
Daniel Friedrichs
2023-03-31 14:00:15 +0000 UTCI work as an engineer for a company that makes parts for the military. We actually made that "$10,000 toilet seat". The reason it costs so much isn't because the manufacturer is making an unreasonable profit.
Daniel Friedrichs
2023-03-31 13:57:01 +0000 UTCLet's work for a world where we can close those tank factories and keep them closed.
David James Brown
2023-03-31 05:35:18 +0000 UTCIf we say "Get that to me by 0600 Thursday", then we are making the adaptation I was referring to. It's no different than if you are in LA and your boss is attending a meeting in Tokyo and says, "Please send me the report by 8 AM Thursday." Clarification will be necessary.
Richard Moore
2023-03-30 16:31:42 +0000 UTCI think it’s a bigger issue than that - you wouldn’t be able to use days as a general time reference without including time. “I arrive on Tuesday” needs a time to know if that’s tonight or tomorrow morning. “Get that to me by Thursday” needs a time to know if I’ll be getting it before I head home on Thursday or the next morning (still Thursday). The current system has issues if you work overnight shifts or deal with folks in distant parts of the globe, but that tends to be the minority of folks. A universal time zone would create local confusion for just about everyone.
Brad
2023-03-28 03:49:07 +0000 UTCI've got to congratulate the SGU (and thank them) for not making a single joke when talking about Uranus during this episode. That took great restraint, I'm sure. A joke about the name of that planet always takes a bit away from the discussion in my opinion and it just annoys me a little because it's so damn easy.
James Joyce
2023-03-27 20:31:51 +0000 UTCThis occurred to me, too. I think we'd adapt to this. It's still just a rollover of the 24-hour clock. One minute it's 2359 on Monday, the next it's 0000 on Tuesday. So what if that happens in the middle of the afternoon? On the plus side, imagine if your next airline itinerary were all given in one time zone. Then it becomes easier to calculate how long your flight is, and you would also know where your diurnal clock is going to be when you arrive ("0900 Z? I'm usually fast asleep by then -- I'd better prepare myself!")
Richard Moore
2023-03-27 16:56:57 +0000 UTCDefinitely not-a-zebra and not-a-conference
Melissa M
2023-03-25 21:47:29 +0000 UTCThe larger issue with a universal time is when does the day change. It’s problematic to have Tuesday become Wednesday in the middle of the afternoon, and if you have the day change at different times depending on your location you’ve just reimplemented time zones.
Brad
2023-03-25 19:19:21 +0000 UTC"Malignant cancer" has the distinction of being both a pleonasm and a neoplasm.
Richard Moore
2023-03-25 16:38:40 +0000 UTC
